:'>,'<normal @q
Running a macro over a range usually goes top to bottom, but that can break when the macro inserts or deletes lines.
macros #macros #ex-commands #visual-mode #normal-mode #refactoring
:cdo s/foo/bar/ge | update
When quickfix already contains exactly the lines you want to touch, :cdo is the safest way to batch-edit with tight scope.
command-line #command-line #quickfix #substitution #refactoring
:argdo update
When working through an argument list, many files may remain unchanged.
command-line #command-line #buffers #ex-commands #refactoring
:%s/\v(\d+)/\=printf('%04d', submatch(1))/g
When you need stable-width numeric fields, manual edits are slow and error-prone.
command-line #command-line #substitution #regex #refactoring
:cfdo %s/\<GetUser\>/FetchUser/ge | update
When quickfix has many matches per file, :cdo can execute your command repeatedly in the same buffer.
command-line #command-line #quickfix #refactoring #ex-commands #search
:undojoin<CR>
By default, separate edits often become separate undo entries, which makes replaying or backing out a multi-part change noisy.
:lfdo normal! @q | update
When you already have a curated location list, :lfdo lets you apply a change only to those files instead of touching your whole project.
macros #macros #location-list #refactoring #command-line #normal-mode
:argdo if search('\s\+$', 'nw') | echo expand('%') | endif
Before running destructive cleanup across many files, it helps to know which files will actually change.
command-line #command-line #search #whitespace #arglist #refactoring
:cdo keepjumps keeppatterns %s/\<OldSymbol\>/NewSymbol/ge | update
When you run :cdo over a large quickfix list, Vim can leave your jump list noisy and your last search pattern overwritten.
command-line #quickfix #ex-commands #search #editing #refactoring
:cdo keeppatterns s/\<foo\>/bar/gec | update
When quickfix already contains precise targets, :cdo gives you a safer multi-file replace loop than broad project substitutions.
command-line #command-line #quickfix #substitute #refactoring
:keepmarks {command}
Many batch edits in Vim update special marks like '[ and '], which can disrupt follow-up motions or tooling that depends on those positions.
navigation #navigation #marks #command-line #refactoring #editing
:let @a = getreg('0')
When you want to preserve a valuable yank before doing destructive edits, copying register 0 into a named register is safer than re-yanking text.
registers #registers #yanking #editing #command-line #refactoring
gd / gr / <leader>rn with nvim-lspconfig
The Language Server Protocol (LSP) brings IDE-level intelligence to Neovim — go-to-definition, find references, rename symbol, and more.
<C-n>
The vim-visual-multi plugin (formerly vim-multiple-cursors) brings VS Code-style multiple cursor editing to Vim.
plugins #plugins #visual-multi #editing #multiple-cursors #refactoring
gS / gJ
The splitjoin.
plugins #plugins #splitjoin #editing #refactoring #formatting
cx{motion}
The vim-exchange plugin by Tom McDonald provides the cx operator to swap two arbitrary text regions.
plugins #plugins #exchange #editing #text-objects #refactoring
crs
The vim-abolish plugin by Tim Pope provides instant case coercion commands that convert the word under your cursor between common naming conventions.
:%Subvert/old/new/g
The vim-abolish plugin by Tim Pope provides the :Subvert command (abbreviated :S), which performs search-and-replace operations that automatically handle every
